Australian Power Company Caught Overcharging Customers to Make Up for Lost Revenue Due to Solar [View all]

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/26071-australian-power-company-caught-overcharging-customers-to-make-up-for-lost-revenue-due-to-solar

Energex documents reveal that the company last year planned to “recover” $469.8 million in “under-recovered revenue” over the next two years, with the amount to be tagged on to future prices.

The figure reflects the shortfall in actual revenue compared with what the Australian Energy Regulator allows the energy distributor to recover, with a new revenue cap set every five years.

It means householders pay for power they do not actually use, with the energy distributors able to reap revenue based on forecast demand rather than actual demand.

An Energex spokesman said yesterday that $274 million under-recovered as at the end of fiscal 2013 was due to reduced customer-driven works and lower than forecast energy consumption.

But he said another $240 million was due to solar PV costs and $43 million due to network performance exceeding targets.